There is a little gang of people who always make me smile. They are forever children, but they have adult-like characteristics and vocabularies that are laughable. Can you guess who they are?
If you guessed the Peanuts Gang you are right!
I just love that Charlie Brown and all of the characters that surround him! In one Christmas episode, Charlie is in charge of selecting a Christmas tree and he comes back with the most pathetic, little twig of a tree you have ever seen. This angers the kids and shames little Charlie Brown. He turns to Linus and says, “I guess you were right. I shouldn’t have picked this little tree. I guess I really don’t know what Christmas is about. Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”
In the past I felt like a mix between Charlie Brown and his friend Linus at Christmas. I knew what Christmas is meant to be about, but in the midst of “the most wonderful time of the year” I caught myself falling prey to the commercialization of Christmas in many ways. I longed for the perfect family-get-together where we read the Christmas story, thanked God for his blessings, handed out thoughtful gifts like Ma and Pa Ingalls in the “Little House on the Prairie” books, and sang Christmas carols together around the fire.
I felt at war between a Christ-centered Christmas and a commercialized “it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” Christmas.
Well, it is that time again. So, as Christmas tree pictures are beginning to infiltrate Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook… here it goes Charlie Brown, this is what Christmas is all about. Here is my take on the meaning behind the Christmas tree and all that surrounds it.
Christmas is about the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Born of a virgin and lain in a manger, Jesus came to reestablish the way back home to unhindered communion with our Father.
Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)
Jesus came to bring life. (John 10:10)
The wonder of Christmas is that Christ came. He gave up the riches of heaven to embrace a fallen world and let us know of God’s great love for us and His God-glorifying plan of redemption and restoration.
Because the Savior born Son bore our sins on a wooden cross then rose to new life again, we are free to remember his birth with lush trees ablaze in splendor and light.
May our Christmas tree this year be more than mere decoration; let it serve as a glorious reminder that Jesus defeated death and sin and offers new life through the laying down of His own.
